LVJC Dumont 2018 Race Recap

On President’s Day Weekend, the Dumont Dunes was the place to be for not only dune action but also the Las Vegas Jeep Club Sand Drags & Hill Climbs. The tradition continued with another full weekend of great action. Tech/Sign-In took place on Friday with the Hill Climbs on Saturday & 300’ Sand Drags on Sunday. The LVJC crew put in long hours and did a phenomenal job all weekend long. Let’s look at all the great on-track action.

Sand Drags

At this event, the LVJC has three premier money classes that the racers put huge energy towards. Pro Boost (3.40 Index) is the quickest category. At this year’s event, only two competitors joined up to go for the win. In the one race winner takes all battle, it was Dave Stidham in his new look “Grinch” Jeep getting the win over Grant Fraysier’s incredible Procharged Hummer. Dave ran Low ET of the weekend with a 3.45 with his Blown Alcohol SBC-powered Funny Jeep. Next up was the Pro Gambler 1 (3.95 Index) category. The dune sand surface relegates most racers to approximately .15-.25 slower ET’s than they are used to, so fitting each Index class is a little more challenging for most. Justin Adamson and his “Raped Ape’ Jeep is a typical late round finalist in the 3.95 class and this race was no exception. Adamson squared off with David Costa in the final round with Justin turning on the win light slowing to a 4.29 after Costa had issues slowing to a 4.40. Adamson would come back around a few minutes later for the Pro Gambler 2 (4.25 Index) final round. Justin’s opponent in this final would be his cousin KC Springer in the “Ben’s Revenge” Landcruiser. This was an incredible wheel-to-wheel race with Springer turning on the win light in a double breakout decision 4.24 to 4.19.

There are a few specialty Heads-Up/Index limited categories during the Sand Drags portion of this event. The Pro Drag final round saw another opportunity for Dave Stidham’s “Grinch” to line up against Grant Fraysier’s incredible Hummer. This one was even closer than the Pro Boost final as Dave turned on the win light by just a few feet in a 3.51 to 3.60 battle. Fraysier came back around and competed in the XX600 Truck Heads-Up final, where he lifted early to a 3.95 for the win over Andrew Argentieri’s Blazer. Up next was the X600 Jeep (3.70 Index) class, where Justin Adamson kept up his amazing Sunday as he scored the final round win over his brother Jeff on a hole shot 4.12 to 4.11. The Duner class final was another Adamson-Costa Jeep final with Justin scoring the victory 4.36 to 4.44. Stephen Chase took the UTV Unlimited class victory as he ran a 4.76 to defeat Doyle Quinn in the final round.

Some of the other great categories of competition at this event included four Index classes open to all types of vehicles. The Pro 1 (3.80 Index) class was yet another Adamson vs. Costa final round pairing. This time it would be Costa running a great 3.98 to win the battle of the Orange Jeeps. There would be another battle of the Orange Jeeps in the Pro 2 (4.20 Index) final round as Adamson came back around and took the win with a 4.43 ET over Chris Calafiore in his Larry Minor Motorsports-built Jeep. Stephen Chase took top honors in the Pro 3 (4.60 Index) category with his UTV running a nice 4.61 to defeat Tim Gilmore’s 4.65. Jack Weddle used his big Ford power for the Pro 4 (5.00 Index) class victory running a 5.17 in his Jeep to defeat Matt Lefever’s 5.18.

The Women’s classes featured some great wheel-to-wheel racing on Sunday afternoon. Wendy Thompson put the “Terminator” Jeep down through there with a 4.63 to take the Women’s Pro 2 (4.20 Index) class win over Aurelia Gilmore. Aurelia came back in the Women’s Duner final and ran a 5.03 for the win. In the Women’s UTV Stock final, Maricela De La Rosa took a 6.14 to 6.11 hole shot win over Aurelia Gilmore.

Wendy Thompson - Women's Pro 2 Winner

Aurelia Gilmore - Women's Duner Winner

The LVJC played host to a Junior class again this year. Ten strong entries hit the track on Sunday morning going for the trophy. Eric Young ran tough through the four rounds of eliminations and emerged victorious over Autumn Gilmore in the final round.

Eric Young - Juniors Winner

Autumn Gilmore - Juniors Runner-Up

Hill Climbs

The Hill Climb event threw a curve ball to competitors this year with challenging hill conditions. With a dry winter, the assumption was that the sand on the hill would be quite dry underneath. This assumption would be false as the sand was quite wet underneath, which leads to an extremely challenging hill in the late rounds as that wet sand tends to be difficult to get traction on. This was certainly evidenced in the X600 Unlimited Hill class as only two competitors advanced to the final round. Justin Adamson and KC Springer would face off in an Uphill Drag tiebreaker scenario. KC got a slight starting line advantage, but it would be Adamson’s Ape with the big power reaching the finish line first for the win. The X400 (N/A Jeep) Turtle Crawl tiebreaker had four entries survive the first three rounds. Chris Adamson would earn the Turtle Crawl victory over his sons Justin & Jeff as well as Chris Calafiore. Chris Adamson came back around for another Turtle Crawl tiebreaker battle against Chris Calafiore in the X200 (N/A Small Block Jeep) class. Adamson would earn his second big win of the day and showed why he’s the King of the Hill at Dumont. Stephen Chase outlasted a tough class to win the UTV Modified class. Chase came back around & took the UTV Slalom course victory while Wes Gilmore Jr. was the Jeep Slalom course winner. Other winners on the day included: Jon Warren (X500 Jeep), Andrew Argentieri (XX400 Truck), Jack Weddle (X300 Jeeps, A & B Jeeps), Larry Calafiore (E Jeeps), Doug Thompson (F Jeeps) and Wendy Thompson (Women’s - X600 Jeeps).